A priest stunned his congregation when he compared gay people to the "living dead" that could only be stopped by being stabbed or shot. Friar Tom Forde used his homily last weekend to tell parishioners in County Kilkenny, Ireland, that those who believed in contraception and abortion were "morally rotten".
He went on to weave an elaborate metaphor around zombie TV shows such as The Walking Dad, suggesting they depict people that are “physically alive but spiritually dead, morally rotten or at least infected”.
The former University College Cork chaplain then suggested drug addicts, alcoholics, people that have sex and homosexuals shared the same condition, the Irish Mirror reported.
He said: “We see this when the mask slips and someone we thought a friend is revealed as a fiend, full of anger, spite, malice, lust or pride we had not seen before.
"We see it in self-destructive, irrational behaviour.
“It is visible in the abuse of drugs and alcohol, in adultery, fornication and homosexuality (and there are other unnameable behaviours).
"As well as in acceptance of abortion and contraception and in the move to legalise euthanasia.
“In the zombie genre once you’re bitten you’re infected and there’s no hope.
"The only way to deal with the monsters is to stab or shoot them in the brain for otherwise they are merciless, relentless and unstoppable.
"Zombies, thank God, do not actually exist, but I would suggest, spiritual-zombie hood does."
Several people are reported to have got up and left during the mass last Saturday.
After delivering the sermon Friar Forde posted a written version to his blog, along with a photo of a zombie and the title: "The living dead are all around us and Christ alone has the cure: the Holy Spirit.”
According to the holy man obedience to Christ was the only cure for the "infected".
The blog post has since been deleted.
Reacting to the homily hours before launching Dublin Pride, manager Eddie McGuinness said: “I’m flabbergasted. Those words are harmful, not just within the LGBT community but within society.
“So again the Catholic Church is trying to tell people how to live their lives when they should be looking internally and cleaning up what they did themselves.”
At first the secretary of the Capuchin Friary in Kilkenny told The Irish Mirror: “He [Friar Forde] has nothing to explain. There will be no comment.”
On Tuesday that response was revised to acknowledge that the blog had been removed and asserting that Friar Forde had not intended to "hurt" anyone.
"The Capuchin Order wishes to state that all are welcome in our churches, irrespective of sexual orientation. Unfortunate comments were made about homosexuality last Saturday, which gay people would have found hurtful, and we deeply regret this," the spokesperson continued.
"When asked about gay people, Pope Francis has said, ‘Who am I to judge?
"And speaking to a gay man at an audience in the Vatican he said, ‘God made you like this
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